Abstract
This paper is aimed at studying the thermal properties of poly(lactic acid), PLA with different plasticizers. Plasticized PLA was obtained by mixing and extruding PLA with 20 mass% of neat cardanol, epoxidized cardanol acetate (ECA) and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) 400. The glass transition of completely amorphous samples, melting and crystallization behavior of plasticized PLA were analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry. Results obtained show that, below Tg, a higher enthalpy relaxation occurs for PLA plasticized by cardanol derivatives. This is indicative of a faster mobility of PLA chains below Tg, when cardanol derivatives are used as plasticizers. On the other hand, an opposite behavior was observed for the crystallization studies. In facts, a much faster crystallization was found for PLA plasticized by PEG, which in turn indicates a much higher mobility of PLA chains above Tg compared to PLA plasticized by cardanol derivatives. Mechanical properties obtained on completely amorphous samples show that PLA plasticized by ECA is characterized by lower modulus, which is indicative of a more efficient plasticization. On the other hand, the thicker crystals formed during crystallization of PLA plasticized by ECA involve a more relevant increase in the modulus in semicrystalline samples.
Highlights
Environmental concerns and a decrease in petroleum availability led to bulk production of bio-based materials [1, 2]
This work was focused on the study of the effect of different plasticizers on the thermal properties of poly(lactic acid) (PLA), and the influence on the mechanical properties
Glass transition behavior was studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis, showing comparable plasticizing effectiveness of all the plasticizers
Summary
Environmental concerns and a decrease in petroleum availability led to bulk production of bio-based materials [1, 2]. Being the addition of plasticizers much more cost-effective, it is often preferred to copolymerization; in particular, plasticizer addition allows a decrease in glass transition temperature and an increase in toughness of the polymer [8, 9]. Several plasticizers, both biodegradable and non-biodegradable, were blended with PLA to obtain its plasticization [10], low molecular weight poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) showed the best performances in terms of plasticizing effectiveness [11, 12].
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